"The Church is not a 'club' for the elderly, it needs participation from young people to keep it alive", said Pope Francis in a video message presenting his 'Prayer Intention' for the month of August.
Church attendance has gone down considerably in recent years. At the First Holy Communion stage, the faith and enthusiasm is still very much there. But by the Confirmation stage it drops considerably and after Confirmation many begin to stray away from religion.
They do come to church on Sundays to meet their friends and socialize.
Pope Francis stressed on the fact that it needs participation of youth to keep the church alive. Europe is paying for its ill-conceived policy of erasing all signs and symbols of religion in Catholic schools.
In India, the reason for decline in church attendance needs to be addressed with an open mind. What we need is feedback from youth and not by experts as they know what they want from religion. Already in our churches we see the youth only on Sundays. Rest of the week, it's just the elderly club in attendance.
